Chevron is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Chevron is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

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USS-Posco Industries - 2,733,268 gallons per day

USS-Posco Industries - 2,733,268 gallons per day

Photo: Frederic Larson / SFC

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Shell Oil: 11,117,273 gallons a day.

Shell Oil: 11,117,273 gallons a day.

Photo: Michael Short / Special to the Chronicle

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NASA Peninsula: 584, 970

NASA Peninsula: 584, 970

Photo: handout / NASA Ames

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Tesla Motors is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Tesla Motors is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Photo: Michael Macor / The Chronicle

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C&H Sugar is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

C&H Sugar is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Photo: Frederic Larson / The Chronicle

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Fremont Unified School District is one of the biggest retail water customers in Alameda County.

Fremont Unified School District is one of the biggest retail water customers in Alameda County.

Photo: Beverly Ortiz

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Chevron is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Chevron is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Photo: Lance Iversen / The Chronicle

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UC Berkeley is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

UC Berkeley is one of the top retail water customers in the East Bay Municipal Water District.

Photo: Maddie McGarvey / The Chronicle

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Bay Area water mega-users suck up millions of gallons a day

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California’s historic drought — which remains severe despite last week’s storms — has rained down scrutiny on how water is used, especially by the most prolific guzzlers. Mega-users like San Francisco International Airport are pivotal as the state pushes conservation, because their waste, or savings, can be considerable.

A Hertz rental car goes through a car wash at San Francisco International Airport .

SFO sucks up nearly 1.2 million gallons a day, the equivalent of about 4,000 homes, making it the No. 1 user of San Francisco water, according to a Chronicle review of recent government financial filings.

The analysis found that the biggest water consumers in the Bay Area include oil refineries, UC campuses, country clubs and Shell, the UC campuses in Berkeley and San Francisco, country clubs with golf courses and a handful of manufacturing plants.

But while many homeowners and small businesses have been hit with heavy fines for failing to cut back water use — and in some cases have faced public drought-shaming — the institutions and industrial sites that draw far more water have gone mostly without penalties. To see the list of guzzlers and read Kurtis Alexander’s story, click here.